How did the US-Iran war impact on indian pharma industry?

General
1

The US-Iran war started on February 28, 2026, and created a global impact on different sectors. It affected India as well. The oil and gas sector (energy sector) hit the most. Energy is a fundamental element for any industry. The pharma industry is not an exception. There is a huge rise in operational costs. Many generic drug makers operate on low margins due to strict price control; they can’t absorb this price rise.

The factors influencing the rise in the price of medicines are:

  1. Price rise of solvents like methanol, iso propyl alcohol, which are widely used in various processes of the pharma industry.
  2. Increasing the cost of active pharmaceutical ingredient(API) makes the medicine costlier.
  3. Price rises for packaging material are also a vital point.
  4. A rise in traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and a longer alternative route increase the shipment time of vaccines and heat-sensitive drugs. The insurance cost of shipping has also increased due to this conflict. These can contribute to the price rise of exported medicines.

Some medicines that are affected due to the war:
Drugs like paracetamol, aspirin, metformin, and cetirizine, monoclonal antibodies, immunotherapies, and other ultra-cold chain cancer drugs, methotrexate, insulin.

How is this gonna globally impact?
Indian pharmaceutical companies supply roughly 20% of global generic drug volumes (in around 200 countries), which allows public health programmes to run in Africa and other vulnerable regions. More than half of its exports go to highly regulated markets in the United States (almost 47% of generic medicine) and the EU.
The country supplies the vaccines like DPT (diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus), BCG and measles required by UNICEF and the World Health Organization to different countries.
So if indian pharma sector is affected, these all gonna be affected somehow.

Wars are becoming the new normal. Human rights are affected again and again. Is not healthcare a human right? Doesn’t everybody deserve medicines as per their need? Wars are going on to protect humans. Are humans really safe? Please share your opinion.

MBH/PS